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Hey all,

A while ago now I saw a few posts on these forums and elsewhere about Halo themed tabletop games coming out (or at least being in development.) At least one for the naval battles, and another for ground fighting.

I must admit I was particularly interested in the ground fighting version, though the naval combat game interests me as well.

Did either of those go anywhere? I've been dying to find some halo miniatures to paint up (and ultimately play with if such games exist.)

Once I saw they were asking for GW prices I stopped being intrigued once the only way to buy is online only. Not being sold in stores, asking GW prices I just didn't want another hobby where the prices were just insane.

I might not be the only one who thinks that way.

Likely another fire-and-forget release from Spartan.

 Nostromodamus wrote:
Likely another fire-and-forget release from Spartan.

From what I was reading I think this was the case. When I tried to get info on Halo, I kept reading how people were upset that Firestorm Armada was forgot because of the Halo release and some said that is what Spartan does. They don't support their product sometimes and it seems this could be the case here again.

What a shame, could have been cool having a Halo themed tabletop.

Spartan is infamous for releasing gams and then not supporting them after the initial wave.

I'd imagine most people are waiting to see if the halo games will suffer the same fate.

It's a shame because Dystopian Wars and Firestorm Armada have great miniature lines.

 Nostromodamus wrote:
It's a shame because Dystopian Wars and Firestorm Armada have great miniature lines.

I've played FA in it's first edition, it's getting overshadowed by DFC nowadays - but the game was a great BFG substitute for less than $100


We'll have to see more from Halo to see if its worth buying into - when DZC has a solid base for a small scale mini game. The "Halo" IP is most of the selling point. I'll go watch a battle rep in a bit and see how it is.

 Stevefamine wrote:
. The "Halo" IP is most of the selling point. I'll go watch a battle rep in a bit and see how it is.

Yeah pretty much lol.

I've always wanted to field units of Grunts, of the occasional elite and of course vehicles support. Halo always had an art style that was excellent.

Spartan makes great minis but their rules can be a mess and their attention span is worse then my six year old after a sugar binge. I went deep into Dystopian Wars (I even backed their latest KS in order to get a copy of the latest rules) but don't get many games in.

I'd get the figs (they are probably great) and then use an alternate rule set like Horizon Wars to run the games.

 Nostromodamus wrote:
Likely another fire-and-forget release from Spartan.

Which really isn't a surprise. Halo has 2 factions: covenant and UNSC. These factions have fairly limited amount of ship variety ( They most likely have released all covenant and UNSC vessels barring the Infinity-which I they actually did) either so your range won't be too big. You could make cards a-la x-wing but I think that halo fans' demographic doesn't have as much overlap with table top as star wars has, so I think they didn't expect a big market either.

While I can't speak for Halo Ground Combat, Spartan dropped the ball with Fleet Battles in a most stereotypical Spartan Games way in that they pumped it up for six months prior to release and after and then dumped it for the next game (Ground Combat). I stopped buying around March of last year and when I last looked a few weeks ago nothing new had been released since that wasn't already previewed. The first crucial 3-4 waves were just the first wave shuffled around for a bit to make them look different instead of the two sprue/3 ships per side musical chairs game they were playing.

They tried releasing some resin ships after 6 months but the first massive ships have massive QA issues in that Spartan didn't even bother cleaning up the stair step 3d printing pattern on the side of the ship and they looked like Shapeways homemade models instead of $60 professionally made ones. They eventually after handwaving the issue away corrected that (and made good to buyers of the substandard initial versions) but after another few months they just stopped previewing anything new and I didn't see any ships this January in the lineup that weren't already shown/expected in late 2015/early 2016.

The official forums are largely dead for long periods of time, they already rewrote portions of the rules to correct for imbalances that should have been caught with basic testing prior to release and hinted at a revised edition last spring after LESS than a year post release (it turned out to be a large FAQ/errata instead but who knows what's next). My advice is don't bother with *ANYTHING* Spartan makes unless it's Firestorm Armada. I went in knowing that the above was typical of their reputation with gamers but hoped that they wouldn't dare pump and dump a licensed IP like Halo Fleet Battles... I was wrong.

I was ready to go all in on ground battle but then it was delayed for months, prices were way ott and interest died out. Its had some minor releases but its a dead game

 Motograter wrote:
I was ready to go all in on ground battle but then it was delayed for months, prices were way ott and interest died out. Its had some minor releases but its a dead game

Yeah if I remember right the starter set wasn't too bad price wise, it was just that any blisters you bought past that rapidly increased the buy in cost.

I really like the UNSC box of two Epoch's and six escorts, but not for playing Halo. I just think they'd make great homebrewed ships for Star Wars Armada, as they share a similar aesthetic with older EU Imperial ships.

And yeah, the Ground Combat game is stupidly expensive for 15mm scale figures.

Are Epochs the huge carriers? Those are the best human ships. All of the covenant ships look pretty good, but the rest of the human ships are just chunk fugly. I wish the carriers were cheaper and more convenient to buy.

The one below is the Epoch. To me, it looks kind of like the aesthetics of the old Imperial ships from the RPG's, or even the Republic era, especially the turrets along the sides kind of like on a Star Destroyer. Same size as a medium ship in Star Wars Armada, too.

I didn't have any issues with the actual models personally. I thought they looked cool and the plastics themselves were very well designed. It was just pretty much everything else that Spartan screwed up initially. :(

 warboss wrote:
I didn't have any issues with the actual models personally. I thought they looked cool and the plastics themselves were very well designed. It was just pretty much everything else that Spartan screwed up initially. :(

That is also why I bought it. Maybe someday I'll get more carriers to try some conversions, but right now I'm just blown away by the DFC plastics, which also seem to be slightly cheaper for what you get on the sprue. The ground attack game looks like it doesn't come ith many vehicles in the box...so, why is it 15mm?

To me the big problem was that they initially launched a space game that nobody wanted. It basically absorbed any real buzz for the IP before the ground game that people might have actually bought into hit shelves.

Never chase the big IPs with a smaller IP in the same kind of game.

Spartan's problem is that they can't seem to find an identity as a company. When I first started getting interested in their product they were the "fantasy/si if/ steampunk naval war games company. Uncharted Seas, Firestorm and Dystopian wars all shared a theme (ships fighting each other) and all the ships were roughly in the same scale.

Since then Spartan, with Dystopian Wars alone has added Armoured Clash (big battles involving their land minitures) Dystopina Legions (28mm land based skirmish game) 3-4 versions of the core DW rules and tried to Kick start a 15mm mass land battle game set in the same setting (I've never seen a company get shouted down in real time, that was a fun day on Facebook).

They've scrapped Uncharted Seas (which had a nice miniture line) and revised Firestorm Armada. In addition, they added Planetfall, a 15mm si fi massed battle game set in the FA universe. They then went and added Halo to their stable. None of these games get supported and releases seem random and there are long gaps between new releases.

Say what you want about GW but at least they picked their niche and stuck with it for 30+ years.

Did Dystopian Legions ever actually get off the ground? All I ever saw were a couple early concept models and one vehicle.

It launched (I even think they've re done the rules once). I saw product in a store that was big into Spartan stuff and I've seen project logs on their web forum. Again, it could have been cool. Their sculpts were good (the tanks and Prussian power armor guys in particular) and the setting is fun and different, but again after the initial launch very little support and it just kind of fizzed out.

 AduroT wrote:
Did Dystopian Legions ever actually get off the ground? All I ever saw were a couple early concept models and one vehicle.

Spartan Games's problem is outlined as Davout said. Spartan could not identify themselves as a company specializing in specific product ranges and lacked a mission statement to prove their integrity, work ethics, and honesty with existing or future customers.

I was someone, who checked out Spartan Games' website from time to time and found the aesthetics of the steampunk naval/aerial/land combat intriguing. Armored Clash had my eye for quite some time; I eventually bought a box of Prussian Armored Hunter Group and a Federation Armored Hunter Group. I didn't get around to demo the game just yet. However, I did buy a softcover Dystopian Wars 2.0 Rulebook. You know what my biggest problem with Spartan Games is?

It isn't just the lack of attention to their product ranges but their inability to deliver on their promises. Here's an example excerpt from their rulebook on page 6:

A copy of the [b]Force Book[/b] with the rules for your models.

You mean, a Force Book like these indicated on the Kickstarter for the Dystopian World Expansion, which was funded here:



Would the Core Nations Guide contain all the forces within their book? I don't know but I am willing to bet that the Core Nations guides were designed with that in mind; the rules for Dystopian Wars did cover how models were treated in combat, how to effectively use the models, and which models would work. Stat cards were produced (which some of them were excellently made by fans) but there were no concrete plans to make the models' stats stick. The models' stats would change from time to time; eventually, it was useless to rely on just a Force Book.

Spartan Games is relatively a young company but they do not have the gumption that GW does have. GW has put 30+ years into W40K, WHFB, and other products; while changes were made, they didn't drop the games but rather maintained them. While their inability to support Specialist games that they produced frustrated fans of yesteryear, they are making them come back. Want to bet that Spartan Games could do 30+ years of investing into the world of Dystopian Wars, not excluding Armored Clash, Legions; Firestorm Armada and Planetfall with their expansions; and Halo Fleet and Ground Commander? I don't think so. Not with the current direction Spartan Games is heading.

IMHO, they need to stop expanding their product ranges and focus on the products that made Spartan Games the company it is when it first started out. It is, after all, a steampunk naval, aerial, and land miniatures company, not some company that inserted the tagline and decided, "Including science fiction niches like Halo, Star Wars, and others..." They lose their identity by reproducing other companies' work and not keeping the attentive focus on their own products. It's how they're losing me, and others, who were willing to invest into their products. I am not willing to invest into Spartan games anymore because of their lack of ability to truly stay focused to the two product lines that have kept them alive for this time.

While GW may have ridiculously insane prices, if I had to choose between GW and SG, it's sort of like choosing whether I really want to eat a meltabomb with xeno blood topping or plank wood with sawdust from some sunk steampunk ship for breakfast. Neither offers greater options but they are really appealing companies with appealing product lines.

SG, if you are listening, man up. Start staying focused on your product lines that made you the company today. Stop expanding and do your part! Do your part to serve the Federation and make those minis! Wait.. Oh, I got SST and real life all mixed up. My bad...

 epicmunda wrote:
Do your part to serve the Federation and make those minis! Wait.. Oh, I got SST and real life all mixed up. My bad...

Might be a relevant reference, though. These complaints about Spartan's goldfish attention span sound familiar.